Civil War #7

Spoiler Warning!

This review has details about Civil War #7. If you do not want to know those details, please do not read!

How can I say this nicely...Civil War #7 is not that good. There are really very few fine qualities to this book. It is a disappointing end to a story that showed great promise in the beginning.

Civil War #7 starts out with some potential. We open with all of the heroes who have been trapped in the Negative Zone escaping through a portal that Cloak has managed to open. The idea is pretty cool and the art supporting it is quite dynamic. And then the ridiculousness starts.

As everyone is falling from Cloak's portal, which has opened over the sky of New York City, Captain America yells "All the flyers, grab a friend, NOW!" And this is just an example of the stellar dialogue that this book is filled with.

The battle between the heroes continues to rage over NYC until it looks like Captain America is finally going to take out Iron Man. But then, no! Cap sees the error of his ways when some emergency workers pull him off Iron Man. Emergency workers who are willing to stop Captain America even though Iron Man has convicted murderers on his side. With the emergency workers extremely poignant (also known as stilted) dialogue Captain America sees that this fight is hurting citizens and GIVES UP.

This is the lamest cop out of ending I think that I have ever seen. In one panel Captain America, the man who spent all of World War II fighting for the greater good of keeping the Nazis in check regardless of the costs, has given up because a portion of NYC is destroyed. It is completely out of character and depressing to read.

And it is not the end! The book continues with some handy-dandy wrap up where magically all the troubles that have plagued the Marvel Universe throughout this conflict are healed. All this because Captain America gave up. Yeah, they give a half page to the fact that some of the heroes have not fallen in line, but that is it. These people were willing to give up their lives and the lives of their families to preserve their liberty and in three minutes they have decided to stop fighting, except for the New Avengers. They are the only ones who are willing to stand by their convictions. What kind of message is Marvel trying to send to the US? It is ridiculous and completely an easy way out.

Also completely ridiculous is the healing of Sue and Reed Richards relationship. I guess that Sue is willing to give up all of her beliefs to be back with her husband because after receiving an absolutely asinine letter from him. He talks about her saw her and cried for exactly 93 minutes. I am pretty sure that would not win my heart.

Civil War #7 reinforces the conviction I have had since the first time they delayed this mini-series; Marvel had absolutely no idea how they were going to end this mini-series. This is the best they could come up with. It sincerely makes me worry about the future of the Marvel Universe.

Overall this book was bad. If you had thought up a really awesome and dynamic way for this book to end in your head I would just go with that. Don't even bother to read the book. Just keep that idea in your brain and pretend that was what happened. You'll be much happier that way.